Rainbow Wahine complete undefeated season at home in Big West play
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s Kelsie Imai directs her teammates in the first half.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s Ashley Thoms looks to pass the ball in the first half.
The Hawaii women’s basketball team completed an undefeated regular season at home in Big West play with a 62-51 win over UC Riverside tonight.
Daejah Phillips, a conference player of the year contender, finished with a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals to lead the Rainbow Wahine in front of a SimpliFI Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,229.
Hawaii (18-9, 15-3) clinched one of the two double byes into the semifinals of the conference tournament in two weeks and needs one win in its final two games on the road next week to earn the No. 1 seed.
Jacque David added 11 points and eight rebounds for UH, which honored Ashley Thoms and Olivia Davies on Senior Night after the game.
>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. UC Riverside
Davies made two 3-pointers to open the second half and push UH’s lead to 36-19 while Thoms helped hold Big West leading scorer Jordan Webster to 10 points on 1-for-14 shooting from the field.
Webster had entered the game averaging 17.4 points for the Highlanders (16-12, 11-7), who beat Hawaii earlier this season at home.
UH will close the regular season at Cal State Northridge and Cal State Bakersfield next week before heading to Henderson, Nev., for the Big West tournament. UH won’t play until the semifinals on March 15.
